Richard Lipsey
Canadian economist
Richard George Lipsey, (born August 28, 1928) is a Canadian academic and economist. He is best known for his work on the economics of the second-best, a theory that demonstrated that piecemeal establishing of individual first best conditions would not necessarily raise welfare in a situation in which all first best conditions could not be satisfied, an article that he co-authored with Kelvin Lancaster. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University.
Early life and education
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Arts degree in 1953 from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in 1956 from the London School of Economics, where he studied under thesis director and future Nobel Prize winner James Meade.
Career
From 1955 to 1963, he held the positions of assistant lecturer, lecturer, reader and professor at the London School of Economics. From 1963 to 1969, he was a Professor of Economics, Chairman of the Economics Department, and Dean of the School of Social Studies at the University of Essex in England.
Returning to Canada, he held a brief position as a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, before being appointed the Sir Edward Robert Peacock professor of economics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1970.
He was the Irving Fisher Visiting Professor at Yale University from 1979 to 1980. From 1983 to 1989, he was a Senior Economic Advisor at the C.D. Howe Institute, the economic and social think tank in Toronto. In 1989, he was appointed Professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University and later became professor emeritus.
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